Avion issue 10 fall 2014

| Issue 10 | Volume 142 | Tuesday, November 11, 2014 | theavion.com |

Fluffy Closes Blue & Gold Week with a Laugh Love and Theft Rock it Despite the Rain

Jack Taylor/The Avion Newspaper

Shemar Alexander Staff Reporter The renowned CMA, CMT, and ACM nominated duo Love and Theft made a spectacular performance at Embry-Riddle’s Blue and Gold carnival and concert. The duo performed their hit songs “Angel Eyes” and “Night That You’ll Never Forget.” Both Stephen Barker Liles and Eric Gunderson grew up in church and their passion for music was induced while they sang in the church choir and learned to master the instruments they play today.

The duo met through a mutual friend, and instantly made an amazing sample that felt natural to them. Six months later the duo began writing songs together and Love and Theft was born. The duo gets their ideas for their songs by the experiences the have and the conversations they have with people, thus making every song different. The people that have inspired Love and Theft are Elvis Presley, The Doobie Brothers, and The Eagles.

Their favorite part of their tour is hearing their fans sing back their songs to them.

The fact that they see their hard work pay off gives Love and Theft a feeling of success and accomplishment. The support their families give them, helps them to feel as if their not so far way from home. Facetime is great when it comes to them staying in touch with their families and seeing their children. The duo says their families help them when the lows are low and the highs are high.

The advice that the duo gives to young people that want to pursue a career in music is that they should move to Nashville, Tennessee. “Nashville has some of the best studios and when you perform with people better than you, you become better at what you do,” said Stephen Barker Liles. Eric Gunderson also commented, “Its better to surround yourself with people that share the same passion as you, and are as passionate as you.”

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Shemar Alexander Staff Reporter Gabriel Iglesias concluded Embry-Riddle’s Blue & Gold week with an explosion full of laughs and a sold out show.

His jokes kept the crowd constantly laughing and excited.

His opening acts Mr. Martin and Mr. Rick Gutierrez gave the crowd a feeling of anxiety

as they waited for Mr. Gabriel Iglesias to take the stage.

Mr. Iglesias never anticipated having so many fans recite his work and jokes back towards him harmoniously. Mr. Iglesias makes many sacrifices being away from home while on his tours, due to the fact that he can’t spend time with his family or his friends. A lot of his material is made from

experiences he’s had or something that seems to bother him.

When Mr. Iglesias was ten years old he realized he wanted to do comedy. His favorite comedians are Chris Rock, Luis Black, and Bill Maher. Mr. Iglesias’s advice to young folks that wish to pursue a career in comedy is to make sure your able to relate to your fans and audience, also don’t stop chasing your dreams.

Trey Henderson/The Avion Newspaper

Interstellar Review

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Student life

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Executive Board Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor News Editor Business Manager Photography Editor Advertising Manager

Trey Henderson Michael Nisip Suzanne Fernandes Jeff Icker Jack Taylor Richard Weakley

Page Editors Front Editor Campus Editor SGA Editor Blue&Gold Editor I&T Editor Sports Editor Comics Editor Entertainment Editor Copy Editor

Trey Henderson Suzanne Fernandes Zachary Wilkinson Shemar Alexander Mark Fetters Richard Weakley James Bukowski Jack Taylor Jeff Icker Suzanne Fernandes Mark Fetters Elizabeth Worsham

Staff Contributors Reporters Photographers

Himani Parekh Mark Fetters Shemar Alexander Shemar Alexander Mark Fetters Victor Wong

Correspondents Billy Nguyen, Mike Barrett, Esteban Vasquez

Staff Advisor Wesley Lewis, Asst. Director, Media & Marketing

Contact Information Main Phone: (386) 226-6049 Ad Manager: (386) 226-7697 Fax Number: (386) 226-6727 Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor News Editor Business Manager Photography Editor Advertising Manager

editor@theavion.com managing@theavion.com news@theavion.com business@theavion.com photo@theavion.com advertising@theavion.com

Website: theavion.com

The Avion is produced weekly during the fall and spring term, and bi-weekly during summer terms. The Avion is produced by a volunteer student staff. Student editors make all content, business and editorial decisions. The editorial opinions expressed in The Avion are solely the opinion of the undersigned writer(s), and not those of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the Student Government Association, The Avion, or the student body. Letters appearing in The Avion are those of the writer, identified at the end of the letter. Opinions expressed in the “Student Government” and “Student Life” sections are those of the identified writer. Letters may be submitted to The Avion for publication, provided they are not lewd, obscene or libelous. Letter writers must confine themselves to less than 800 words. Letters may be edited for brevity and formatted to newspaper guidelines. All letters must be signed. Names may be withheld at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief.

The Avion is an open forum for student expression. The Avion is a division of the Student Government Association. The Avion is a member of the Associated Collegiate Press. The costs of this publication are paid by the Student Government Association and through advertising fees.

The Avion distributes one free copy per person. Additional copies are $0.75. Theft of newspapers is a crime, and is subject to prosecution and Embry-Riddle judicial action. This newspaper and its contents are protected by United States copyright law. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, in print or electronically, without the expressed written consent of The Avion. Correspondence may be addressed to: The Avion Newspaper, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, 600 S. Clyde Morris Blvd., Daytona Beach, Florida 32114. Physical office: John Paul Riddle Student Center, Room 110. Phone: (386) 226-6049. Fax: (386) 226-6727.

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History Through the Eyes of an Army Chaplain

Suzanne Fernandes News Editor Marc Bernier, Special Assistant to President Johnson for Government and Community Relations, and moderator of the President Speaker Series presented journalist Tim Townsend and his book ‘Mission at Nuremberg’ to a much-awaited audience on Nov. 5 at the Gale Lemerand Auditorium. Tim is a former religion reporter at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The Nuremberg trials were held to serve Nazi war criminals with the deserving punishment for their crimes against humanity during World War II. The first question asked by Bernier was how Townsend found himself involved in writing a book about an Army Chaplain’ mission to provide spiritual guidance to Nurmeberg trail criminals. It so happened that in 2007, Tim and other reporters were asked to provide evergreen content for the newspaper. It is then that Tim got wind about a Lutheran church program to reintegrate chaplains from Iraq and Afghanistan which sparked his interest in military chaplaincy history. His book follows the story of Henry Gerecke, a Lutheran minister who was raised on a farm and became a minister against the wishes of his father. He spend 10 years preaching to a congregation only to eventually grow bored of it. In the middle of the depression era and having two sons fighting the war, Gerecke decided to become a St. Louis Mission Chaplain before the ripe age of 50.

Bernier mentioned about Henry and his wife Alma’s irregular marriage. Henry was described to be a flirtatious man and Alma was scared of infidelity. But, the Gerecke’ s

made for an odd yet extremely close couple despite their completely different personalities. Alma went on to live a few more years after Henry’s death at the age of 60. After gaining insight on Gerecke’s personal life, the discussion was shifted in the direction of the war trials. The Nuremberg trials went on for years.

The city of Nuremberg itself was completely destroyed by the allies. Townsend mentioned that about 90% of Nuremberg was leveled with only the courthouse and prison left. These trials were an experiment in the sense that lawyers had to come up with a structure that included one judge and one prosecution team from each of the 4 allied countries. The goal was to put each of the individual Nazi and the entire German system on trial. When you think that there could possibly be no defense on the German side, the Nazi attorneys frequently used Russian inhumanity as one of their strong talking points. For this reason, there is much debate on whether Russia should have been involved in the trials but nonetheless, they were.

Millions of dollars were spent to expand the courtroom to half the size of the IC auditorium. Cameras, lights, security devices, and galleries for press were all included in the renovations. The captured Nazi’s were unhappy with the trial process as they believed that it was undignifying to be hanged. Their wives begged for mercy and attorneys petitioned for a much faster death through a bullet, but all requests were denied.

Gerecke was accompanied by another Christian chaplain, Father O’Connor who previously served with an infantry unit. O’Connor received a Bronze star for sup-

porting people with PTSD. Gerecke served in an army hospital in London. He helped and supported doctors, nurses and soldiers alike. Both of the chaplains were fluent in German. O’Connor had fewer people to manage during the trial but those fewer people were monsters according to Townsend. The trials were not suicide free as hoped.

Herman Goering, considered second in line to Hitler, committed suicide with the use of cyanide. It is believed that Goering brought the cyanide in his luggage and had help from one of the guards who sneaked the poison to him.

Goering was described as a funny and witty conversationalist but he was not very responsive to either chaplain’ initiative to getting him back to God. As the event unfolded, Townsend spoke of the secretive nature of the executions. Gallows were built semi-secretly. Both chaplains would collect the prisoner and walk them to the gymnasium where the gallows were.

Watched by guards, press and witnesses, the prisoner would say his last name and with a prayer, he was hanged. This grim scene was repeated for the 11 Nazi’s who were executed. The bodies were cremated in Munich and ashes dispersed into the sea. Celebrations of victory ran high in Nuremberg with the allies drinking and dancing after the trials while the country slept in poverty. But that describes the dynamics of people in Nuremberg after the war; either they were starving or part of the mechanics of the trial.

When Gerecke returned to the United States, he was given a warm welcome by the then Mayor of St. Louis.

He was considered a hero for partaking in a task that so

Photo Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons Nuremberg Trials defendants photographed in the dock. Front row, left to right: Hermann Goering, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Wilhelm Keitel, and Alfred Rosenberg.

many of us would not have the courage or heart to do.

Like Townsend explained, how do you sit in a room and converse with someone who has committed painful atrocious crimes against humanity? Probably, worse than this, is the realization that some of the Nazi’s had no remorse for what they did. In their defense, they were merely following orders like soldiers of any other country would do for their leader-supreme.

Gerecke never comprehended the fact that he would be mistaken as a Nazi sympathizer until he received hate mail. He believed he was a Chaplain to all. He worked hard to connect people to faith. He helped find a Rabbi for Jews while working with them. His motto was ‘This too shall pass’. As a pastor, he felt that the goal was to bring the criminals back to faith. Some of them took communion and became Catholics, while some resented it till the very end.

At the end of the trials, both chaplains thought their mission was successful.

As a journalist, Tim mentioned that he was just telling a story. It was difficult for him to understand what the two chaplains did and the fact that the allies provided spiritual support to the Nazi’s. In the Q&A round, many interesting questions were asked. One of them was about Albert Speer who never got executed. The allies gained extensive knowledge on Hitler’ inner circle through Speer who served 25 years in prison. Gerecke felt that Speer had come back to God like his fellow prisoner Kietel. But unlike Speer, Wilhelm Keitel, Chief of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces, was the second to be executed. The next question was if the movie ‘Judgement at Nuremberg’ depicts the trial precisely. In Tim’ opinion, the movie is not about this trial of major war criminals. Among the last questions asked was if the Associated Press in the United States covered the trials on a daily basis. Surprisingly, they did not. While the story was not covered, occasionally small posts during their execution and Christmas in Nuremberg were run. This event was a different look into one of the main occurrences of World War II history. In one of the closing remarks, Tim remembered being nervous presenting his book to Gerecke but the later could not be more satisfied with it. To watch this event online, go to http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=Hd8NwBjpJVs.

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Blue & Gold Week

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The Greatest Week on Campus Shemar Alexander Staff Reporter Blue and gold week was truly the greatest week on campus for Embry-Riddle. The week was filled with various activities and events that kept the student engaged and competitive.

On Monday the Eagle Strut down Legacy Walk turned into a fun kickoff party with the Love Band playing music on Connolly Quad keeping everyone lively and on their feet. Tuesday was occupied by a chalk art contest on Legacy Walk and a Blue & Gold bingo night in the student village.

The Air Jam talent show was filled with different student organizations battling against each other to win the ultimate bragging rights and prize. Phi Gama Delta performed an intersting dance routine combining Nicki Minaj’s “Anaconda” with ohter ttypes of music. The Thursday night movie on the lawn kept students eyes glued to the screen as touch and go showed “The Expendables 3,” and the can-struction competition and women’s volleyball game were also

highlights of the day. On Friday the women’s basketball team made history as they played their first game and won 79 to 59. The women’s basketball game nded with a gigantic group hug with Embry-Riddle students, deans, and the baskteball team.

On Saturday the men’s basketball team had their inaugural basketball game and won 87 to 45. Later on that night there was a Shakespeare dance recital and the carnival & concert featuring Love and Theft blew the crowd away.

Dj Duo and Joel Crouse also accompanied the country music duo. Love and Theft performed their hit songs “Angel Eyes” and “Night you’ll never forget.”

The students loved the music and had fun with all the carnival rides. Lastly, Sunday night was filled with laughs as Gabriel Iglesias, Mr. Fluffy himself, took the stage in the ICI center for his stand up comedy act.

Mr. Iglesias made students and fans laugh till their sides hurt. The Blue & Gold week for the year of 2014 was truly the greatest week on campus.

Shemar AlexanderThe Avion Newspaper

The celebration taking place at the ICI center after the women’s basketball team made history and won their first game.

Richard Weakley/The Avion Newspaper

Love and Theft stole the crowd’s attention and kept them captivated by their harmonious voices

Shemar Alexander/The Avion Newspaper

Shemar Alexander/The Avion Newspaper

After the Eagle Strut all the student organizations laid their banners down on the connolly quad for display

Phi Gama Delta’s performance at the Air Jam talent show kept students dancing and on the edge of their seats

SGA

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Housing and Residence Life Forum Gretchen Krantz SGA Representative

Announcements: Jordan P. Nottingham SGA Representative This year, SGA and the College of Arts and Sciences (COAS), has arranged something special for study day. We’ve all seen how crowded the library usually

is, and it is even worse than normal on study day.

With every location on campus so thoroughly congested, it can be rather difficult to find a quiet and comfortable place to sit down and study. SGA is always trying to find ways to improve

student life on campus, and thus, we will be offering subject-specific study rooms for students in COAS! Students will be able to come together with colleagues in similar subjects to prepare for finals, and we hope this will also make the

other study areas on campus less congested. As finals approach, we will be publishing a list of the rooms with their subject assignments, as well as opening and closing times for the COAS on study day. We hope you will utilize this service!

Treasurers!

It is time to submit purchase requests for Student Government Association funding! The Student Finance Board (SFB) is here to help in these crucial times of need to answer any questions of registered student organizations (RSO) treasurers. The Treasurer Resource Manual Fall 2014 (pdf)is available for reference to submit purchase requests correctly. Go to https://connection.erau.edu/organization/studentfinanceboard/documentlibrary to access the manual. It is located in Connection, in the documents section of the SFB Page. Make sure to contact the SFB if questions arise. It is imperative that purchase request submissions are done correctly by Wed., Nov.19 at 5 p.m. If treasurers submit purchase requests ahead of time, its beneficial for faster payment or submission feedback. If the request is submitted incorrectly, it can result in denial of the purchase request, so be proactive and use attention to detail when completing the purchase request. A purchase request submission requires a signature from the RSO president, treasure, and advisor. Make sure to do these two very important items. Email SFB member Alonzo Sweet Jr. if you have any questions sweeta@my.erau.edu.

Get to Know your SGA Jesse Zumek Touch-N-Go Administrative Coordinator Sophomore, Aeronautical Science I am currently a sophomore here at Embry Riddle studying Aeronautical Science. I was born and raised in a small town in Washington State, where it tends to rain all year around. When I am at home, I enjoy restoring and driving my grandparent’s antique cars. I love to go mountain biking and hiking in the summer. When winter break rolls around, I go skiing up in the Cascades. When the weather is fair, my father and I rent a plane from our local airport. My father, a UPS pilot, was the person that introduced me to flying. He gave me the opportunity to walk out onto the tarmac and stand right next to a Boeing 757 and it is my lifelong dream to be a commercial pilot for one of the major airlines. I have been with Touch-N-Go Productions for a year. This is my first semester on the Executive Board. I joined TouchN-Go Productions to get involved and have certainly made a lot of fantastic friends because of it.

On Oct. 28, the Departments of University Housing and Residence Life hosted a Fall Forum in conjunction with SGA’s Forum Week. The event was focused on providing information about all services that the department has to offer and what living on campus will be like in the near future. The evening started at 6 p.m. with a catered meal from Sodexo. It was then time for the housing staff to take the stage and discuss their various topics. Mr. Noel Fegumps, Associate Director of Housing, spoke on upgrades coming to the Residence Halls including HVAC upgrades to Student Village during Summer 2015. He answered questions relating to various Residence Hall maintenance issues from those in attendance. Dr. Kristen Getka, Associate Director of Residence Life spoke about events coming up during Blue and Gold Week, and the basic Resident Advisor application process, which is now open.

Ms. Olivia Eriksen, Assistant Director of Residence Life, continued the evening

by introducing the National Residence Hall Honorary chapter coming to Embry-Riddle next Fall semester. Next up, Mr. John Barnousky, the other Assistant Director spoke on Embry-Riddle Resident Student Association’ upcoming events, Riddle Vision television service, and all the services the organization offers. Finally, two Hall Tour Ambassadors, a new student position available through University Housing, spoke on their experience and all the job has to offer. The evening was concluded by giving out over $500 in prizes to students in attendance. The grand prize awarded was a $400 housing credit for the Spring 2015 semester. Congratulations to Josiah Bichler for winning the grand prize!

As requested by the Resident Director of Chanute, there will be another Fall Forum held on Wednesday, Nov. 19 at the Chanute Complex Lounge from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Mr. Will Bullock, Area Coordinator for Chanute; Mr. Noel Fegumps, Associate Director of Housing, and Paul Bell, Associate Dean of Students will be in attendance for discussion and a question and answer session.

Safe-Ride Update Ravi Gondaliya SGA Representative Student Government Association’s Safe Ride Committee works to enhance the Safe Ride program offered free to ERAU students. Students can use the Safe Ride service from various limits within Daytona Beach to get to their desired locations when feeling unsafe.

More information about SGA’s Safe Ride program can be obtained from: http://sites.erau.edu/db-sga/ portfolio/safe-ride-form.

Once you fill the Safe Ride quiz, it will be graded and if passed, your Safe Ride card can be picked from SGA office in one week from the date of submission. The application procedure is currently being streamlined for future use. The Safe Ride committee is working on producing a mobile app so students can utilize Safe Ride privileges to its maximum. The committee expects to finish and release the app soon next semester.

The committee is also working on arranging a Thanksgiving shuttle which students can utilize during Thanksgiving week to travel to Orlando’s MCO airport. These shuttles provides an economic medium to travel to the airport. Thanksgiving shuttle times will be advertised within one week. Besides that, the committee is planning to invite Mark Sterner to discuss the consequences of drinking and driving. The seminar will be arranged during Spring 2015 orientation. The event will be advertised to the student body soon.

This wraps up the update on Safe Ride committee workings. For suggestions and recommendations, please leave your feedback in SGA’s yellow suggestion box located around campus.

Any comments and concerns can also be brought up to the Student Representative Board during their weekly meeting on Tuesday from 12.30 p.m. to 2 p.m. at the IC Auditorium.

Photo Courtesy: Mark Fetters/The Avion Newspaper

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Eagles Flight-Team 2014 Region IX SAFECON

Competition Rankings Overall- 1st Flight Events- 1st Ground Events- 1st 31 Year Region IX Champions!

Navigation Rankings 2nd Place- 38 points Buckett, Luke A. (Pilot) Eve, Benjamin D. (Obs) 3rd Place- 36 Points Burris, Devon D. (Pilot) Holmes, Joshua C. (Obs) 4th Place- 34 Points Rafferty, Tyler R. (Pilot) Lin, Li C. (Obs)

Power Off Landing

7th Place-28 Points Lin, Li 8th Place-26 Points Eve, Benjamin D. 15th Place-12 Points Buckett, Luke A. 17th Place-8 Points Leeward, Ryan J.

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Southwest Beats Up Mark Fetters Staff Reporter Last week, Southwest Airlines introduced a partnership with Beats music to provide free streaming of music to its customers on planes that are equipped with wifi. The service will be provided for free but after the first three songs the user is asked to input their email address. Beats music works by asking you a few questions like what mood you are in or what you want to listen to and makes a playlist from that. Beats is the latest offering from a tech company. In September, T-Mobile is allowing its customers to text for free on wifi-enabled

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flights and GoGo offers an app to allow free texting over wifi as well. This seems to be a growing trend where tech companies are providing free services to customers on various airlines, or airlines are providing free stuff over their wifi. Emirates has started a wifi service where the passengers receive 10mb of Internet for free before having to pay.

Delta now offers free movies and TV shows streaming from their wifi called Delta Studios. Even if you are unable to finish a movie before you land, you can start right from where you left off on your next flight. Look for the complimentary offers provided by the airlines on your next flight.

Photo Courtesy: Southwest Airlines

The Aqueduct of Segovia

Short-Field Landing 1st Place-39 Points Buckett, Luke A. 6th Place- 30 Points Lin, Li 10th Place-22 Points Burris, Devon D. 16th Place- 10 Leeward, Ryan J. 17th Place- 8 Eve, Benjamin D.

Message Drop

2nd Place-19 Points Eve, Benjamin D. (Drop) Buckett, Luke A. (Pilot) 5th Place-16 Points Buckett, Luke A. (Drop) Burris, Devon D. (Pilot) 14th Place-7 Points Leeward, Ryan J. (Drop) Dillon, Emmy R. (Pilot) 18th Place-3 Points Dillon, Emmy (Drop) Lin, Li D. (Pilot)

COMPAC

Buckett, Luke A. -1st Holmes, Joshua - 2nd Lin, Li - 4th Yeung, Tszhim - 5th Luyang, Winsun - 6th

Aircraft Recognition Leeward, Ryan J. - 1st Dermady, Liam J. - 2nd David, Abhishek - 4th Dillon, Emmy - 5th Rafferty, Tyler R. - 6th

SCAN Ranking

Holmes, Joshua - 1st Buckett, Luke A - 2nd Burris, Devon D. - 3rd Eve, Benjamin D. - 4th Jadav, Vivek K. - 5th

Ground Trainer

Eve, Benjamin D. - 1st Burris, Devon D. - 2nd

Preflight Ranking Holmes, Joshua - 1st Dillon, Emmy - 3rd

Top Pilot Buckett, Luke A - 2nd Top Male Scorer Buckett, Luke A. - 1st Top Female Scorer Dillon, Emmy - 3rd

Mark Fetters/The Avion Newspaper

Mark Fetters Staff Reporter Segovia, Spain is about an hour outside of Madrid. It definietly should be the first city you think of when you plan a trip t Spain. Segovia, while not a large city itself, is the capital of the Segovia province.

The name comes from the Celtiberian language where the term ‘Sego’ means victory and suffix ‘Briga’ means city or strength. The name translates as City of Victory or Victorious City. Because of the name, it might have been a possible battle site around the year 75 B.C. Segovia is classified as a world heritage city because of both the reli-

gious and civil buildings.

Some of the architecture in the city is amazing and the thing that makes the city stand out the most is

the aqueduct. An aqueduct was an old way to move water above ground.

It starts around 11 miles from the city in the moun-

tains and carries water to the city over a very gradual slope. It is thought that the aqueduct was built around the year 100 A.D.

Mark Fetters/The Avion Newspaper

It is very impressive walking around it and wondering how they were able to build something like that so many years ago. Alcázar of Segovia which means Segovia castle, looks like something out of Harry Potter or your favorite movie with a castle in it.

A short hike down to the bottom and you might feel as if you are in the middle ages and a dragon could appear at any minute. The castle is also one of the inspirations for Walt Disney’s Cinderella Castle.

I can try to describe in words or show in pictures how amazing this little city is but the real beauty can only be realised by travelling there. It really is the only way to understand how majestic Segovia is.

Aviation Get to Know Captain John Mazur November

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Esteban Vasquez Correspondent The Avion had the honor to meet with Captain John Mazur, an Embry-Riddle Alumnus whose passion for aviation does not end when he steps off the flight deck of the U.S. Airways A330 he just flew back from Paris.

An experienced international captain, Mazur talked about what ERAU students can expect in their careers after their CRJ days are over; but first, let’s talk about Captain Mazur and how he became not only a senior captain flying around the world, but also an influential figure in the Riddle community.

Captain Mazur’s love for aviation started when he paid for his private pilot license with a summer job during his high school years growing up in Pennsylvania, when he “hitch-hiked to the airport” for lessons because he wasn’t yet old enough to drive. After high school, he attended another university on a football and wrestling scholarship intending to become a Dentist. He joined the Air National Guard where he learned about Embry-Riddle.

Once he completed his basic training with the U.S. Air Force, he came directly to Daytona Beach where he earned his B.S. degree in Aeronautical Studies. After graduation, Captain Mazur got his first job establishing a flight school with Beech Aero Club Flight Training Centers, where he partnered with the University of West Virginia to start a flight degree

program. His success with the flight school earned him a personal interview with Olivia Beech, where he was offered the opportunity to establish Beechcraft flight schools with college aviation degrees around the nation. However, during his visit to Beechcraft, young Captain Mazur landed a job as a corporate jet co-pilot for one of the financing companies for Beechcraft.

He attributes all this early success in his career to his decision to attend Embry-Riddle, which he calls “the best place to learn to fly.” After holding another job as a corporate pilot, Captain Mazur joined U.S. Airways where he currently lives the dream.

Captain Mazur says he “lives for aviation”; he resides in a fly-in community, and owns a Cessna 172. His wife Darlene was a flight attendant for many years. Now, she is a Daytona Beach Realtor.

Both of his sons, Matthew and John III are pilots who have graduated and are involved with Embry-Riddle.

A proud Embry-Riddle Alumnus, Captain Mazur has maintained his connection with the university throughout the years, helping ERAU grow along the way. He has witnessed important events in the life of the school, like the dedication of the Wright Brothers’ airplane sculpture, where he heard Wilkinson Wright, the great-grand-nephew of the Wright Brothers, say that the ERAU sculpture “is the finest tribute to the Wright brothers anywhere in the world!.”

Captain Mazur has also had a great impact on

Imagine a major airport without its iconic air traffic control tower.

Imagine flying out of an airport knowing that the voice telling you where to taxi, which heading to fly, and when to take off is originating from a control center several miles away from the airport.

This could be the future of air traffic control.

On Monday, Nov. 3, the Swedish Transport Agency approved Luftfatsverket, Swedish Air Navigation Service Pro-

vider (ANSP) and the Saab-developed Remote Tower Center in Sundsvall to control air traffic at Örnskölsvik Airport.

Situated 61 miles from the airport, the Remote Tower Center (RTC) will receive information about flight operations from a medley of sensors and cameras, including High Definition and Pan-Tilt-Zoom cameras, surveillance and meteorological sensors, microphones, and light signal guns; the data from these devices will allow air traffic controllers to monitor and control aircraft from the off-site location,

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Launch Control Center Orion EFT-1 Delta IV Heavy

Dec 4 @ 7:05-9:35 AM EST Cape Canaveral AFS SLC-37B

CRS 5 - Falcon 9

Dec 9 @ 5:15 PM EST Cape Canaveral AFS SLC-40

Orbcomm OG2 Falcon 9

Dec TBD @ TBD Cape Canaveral AFS SLC-40

DSCOVR - Falcon 9 Jan 13 @ TBD Cape Canaveral AFS SLC-40 Photo Courtesy: Smithsonian

the university. As part of the Board of Visitors, he helped get the university’s simulation center FAA certified along with helping start the school’s CRM program. He was also the chairman of the committee that chose the head of the University’s Alumni Relations Department, after pushing to grow the organization into what we know of it today. Perhaps his most important contribution was helping the university obtain the “buffer zone” which is approximately 47 acres of land where the school’s athletic fields are located.

The only thing he asked in return was for a fraternity row to be built on campus.

When asked about the industry and what young aspiring airline pilots can expect, Captain Mazur gave us some insights into his job. On a normal day, he gets to the airport at least an hour and half before departure as he says that pilots are more involved with the

planning of international flights. On flights that last more than 8 hours, he is accompanied not only by a first officer but also another second officer that acts as a relief pilot during rest periods.

In flights lasting more than 12 hours, an additional International Relief Officer is added to the crew. As a senior captain, Mazur sets the tone for the trip during the safety briefing; he gets to know the other pilots as well as the flight attendants and their levels of experience. He assures that this is particularly important because it lets him know what to expect from the crew in case of an emergency. As far as trips go, Captain Mazur flies across the ocean taking passengers to places like London, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Rome, Athens, Tel Aviv, Rio De Janeiro and many other interesting destinations for example. He says you “NEVER, ever get bored because

if you’re bored, then you don’t understand everything that is going on and what you are doing.” The trip usually consists of the outbound flight, a rest day at the destination, and a return trip.

Always with a positive outlook, Captain Mazur is certain that incoming airline pilots are entering the industry at a very good time. According to him, it will take this generation of pilots less time to get on the left seat of an airliner now than it did in the last two decades.

His never-ending passion for aviation, the sharp-looking uniform with four stripes on the sleeves, the willingness to help and to share his experiences, all make Captain Mazur an admirable individual; but it is also his love for this institution that teaches a great lesson, or to put it in his own words, “you will not realize how good it is to go here (ERAU) until you leave.”

ATC Goes Eyes Off Himani Parekh Staff Reporter

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potentially with increased effectiveness since the devices can provide information beyond the capabilities of the naked human eye, especially for poor weather operations.

Consequently, the system appeals to larger airport operations not only as a possible replacement for towers that are no longer ideally situated but also as back-up to existing operations and emergency operations. At the moment, the goal is to combine the air traffic operations of several smaller controlled airports, such as Örnskölsvik Airport, into a handful of

Remote Tower Centers.

The air traffic controller plays a large role in maintaining safe fight operations. Thus, questions of security and safety naturally arise with the realization that the controller can no longer see the aircraft and that the information’s accuracy is reliant on a technological system. However, Saab assures that the data streaming into the RTC is protected securely against hackers and that a malfunction in the devices would be covered by the overlap of other sensors and cameras or could

be handled in much the same way as current low visibility operations.

For air traffic service providers such as ANSP, the consolidation of operations would result in a significant reduction of cost since smaller airports would no longer need individual towers. Thus, the cost of operating the building and the cost of employing so many air traffic controllers would be eliminated. Discussion of the long-term effect of this change on the employment of air traffic controllers, however, is curiously absent.

MUOS 3 - Atlas V

Jan 20 @ 7:42-8:26 PM EST Cape Canaveral AFS SLC-41

CRS 6 - Falcon 9

Feb 4 @ TBD Cape Canaveral AFS SLC-40

Shuttle Spinoff of the Week Electrical Wiring Inspection Tool Kennedy Space Center employee Pedro Medelius invented the Standing Wave Reflectometer to inspect the more than 200 miles of electrical cables that were on the Space Shuttles. The Standing Wave Reflectometer allowed technicians to pinpoint wiring faults with greater accuracy than was possible with just using a multimeter.

KSC worked with Eclypse International to create a commercial version of the product that allows maintainers to precisely and quickly identify the location of the wiring fault within an aircraft, submarine, sea vessel or helicopter.

This Week in Space History Nov 17, 1970 The USSR landed a robot, Luna 17 on the moon Nov 13, 1971 Mariner 9 became the first spacecraft to orbit Mars Nov 13, 1980 Voyager 1 reached Saturn and sent pictures back to Earth

Photo Courtesy: Victor Wong/The Avion Newspaper

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Women’s Cross Country Takes 2nd Place at Conference

Tuesday Men’s Basketball vs Floirda College

Daytona Beach, Fla. - 7p.m.

Women’s Soccer vs Sun Conference TBD Robert Lopez/ERAU Athletics

Wednesday Women’s Soccer vs Sun Conference TBD

Thursday Women’s Soccer vs Sun Conference TBD

Friday Men’s Basketball vs Maine at Fort Kent

Boston, Mass. - 7 p.m.

Men’s Soccer at SCDA Savannah Hardeeville, S.C. - TBA Women’s Soccer vs Sun Conference TBD

Embry-Riddle’s Women’s Cross Country Team triumphantly takes 2nd place.

Robert Lopez ERAU Athletics The Embry-Riddle women’s cross country competed in the Sun Conference Championships on Saturday morning, finishing in second place for the second consecutive year.

The Eagles scored 63 total points to finish behind now two-time defending conference champion SCAD Savannah, who put up 29 points with four of the race’s top ten finishers.

University of South Carolina Beaufort (64), Southeastern (72), and Ave Maria (167) rounded out the top five team scores.

Despite not winning the race, ERAU still put on a very impressive performance as all five Eagle scorers finished in the top 16.

The team was led by senior Aleiyah Ross who finished seventh with a time of 19:10.29, the second best time of her career. Freshman Alex Orr (19:46.37), who had been the Eagles the top finisher all season long, finished in 12th place, closely followed by Martina Tafoya (20:00.31), who finished right behind Orr in 13th place.

Senior Rebecca Love (20:17.80) and Marina LeVine (20:23.28) rounded out the scorers for the Blue and Gold, finishing 15th and 16th respectively.

Alex Meneses (21:08.03), Jaena Smith (21:17.69), Eliza Gazda (21:20.54), Brianna Paczynski (22:22.71), and Maite Moscoso (23:22.90) also competed for the Eagles on Saturday.

vs

Men’s Basketball at Fisher

Boston, Mass. - 2 p.m.

Winning Team: 87 Ryan Mosher ERAU Athletics

No Games

Monday No Games

ning team, Ross also qualified as an individual for the NAIA National Championships, which will take place in Lawrence, Kan. on Nov. 22.

Ross received even more accolades on Saturday when she was named the 2014 Cross Country Champion of Character award winner. The senior holds a 3.7 GPA, holds multiple positions on campus, and runs her own company that provides clothing to less fortunate children.

“Aleiyah is an outstanding young woman who is a leader on campus and in the community,” Rosolino stated.

Aditionally, Ross, LeVine, and Moscoso were all named to the Academic All-Conference Team.

Men’s Basketball Takes Care of Visiting Warriors in 87-45 Season Opening Win

Saturday

Sunday

“I’m really proud of our women because I thought they probably ran their best race of the season,” said Embry-Riddle head coach Mike Rosolino.

“They really laid it out on the line and got tough.

When the race mattered in the last mile and half, they surged and laid it out on the line for each other. I really think that was their best race of the season. I super proud of them and all around really excited about their performance. “ After the race Ross was named to the All-Conference first team, which she earned by finishing in the top seven, while Orr and Tafoya were named to the second team.

As one of the top four finishers not on the win-

The final season in the NAIA started off with a bang for the 13th-ranked Embry-Riddle men’s basketball team on Saturday evening.

The Eagles (1-0) cruised past visiting Sterling (1-2), 87-45 for their largest season opening victory since the 2007-08 season. Embry-Riddle forced 27 Warrior turnovers and scored 45 point from them en route to the 42-point win. The Blue and Gold improved to 23-4 alltime in season openers and will host Florida College on Tuesday, Nov. 11 at 7 p.m. in its next contest.

ERAU got 18 points from newcomer Joseph Gonzalez to lead the way on Saturday, as the Eagles shot nearly 53 percent from the floor (32-

Losing Team: 45 for-61) with 41 points coming from the bench. Joining Gonzalez in double-figures were Cesar Pastrana with 11 and DeForest Carter with 10.

The game started off with a pair of turnovers and missed shots for both teams, but it was the visitors who scored first on a Braden Thompson tip-in 70 seconds in. The Eagles quickly answered with a Pastrana layup thanks to a Daniel Kiesling assist and when Carter recorded a fastbreak dunk a minute later the Eagles never looked back, going up 12-4 in the next four minutes of play.

Thompson connected on a pair of free throws at the 13:11 mark to cut the Warrior deficit to 12-6, but over the next five minutes it was all Embry-Riddle as the hosts blitzed the visitors for a 14-0 run, featuring seven points

from Gonzalez as the hosts took a commanding 26-6 advantage with 8:41 to go in the first half.

Sterling saw the ERAU lead balloon to 22 when Bradley Mapes and Brandon Serle recorded a pair of back-to-back jumpers, but the Warriors responded with a 11-0 run, capped by a Brandon Givens trey to get within 35-24.

Dalton Barnes was fouled in the act of shooting with 42 seconds left and after the sophomore hit a pair from the line neither team scored again in the period with ERAU taking a 37-24 lead into the locker room.

Coming out of the break the hosts put together an 8-0 run, thanks in part to two straight Warrior turnovers leading to a layup and three ball from Kiesling that put the Eagles up 45-24 with 18:56 on the clock in the second.

Reed Ridder and Kiesling hit a pair of triples sandwiched around a Carter layup, and when the senior from Big Cypress, Fla. got an outlet pass from Kiesling fol-

lowing a missed Sterling shot, he drove down the lane and made an acrobatic layup for a 55-29 cushion.

Over the final 15 minutes of the game the Eagles continued to build on their lead, going up by 36 on a Carter dunk with 12:20 left and 39 when Gonzalez nailed his second three-pointer of the night on the next Eagle possession.

Jason Powell’s long range jumper under eight minutes left put the home team up by 40, and the Blue and Gold’s biggest lead of the night came when Drew Sciano recorded a three with 3:27 on the clock for an 85-39 advantage.

Embry-Riddle held the Warriors to 34 percent from the field, including 3-of-20 from beyond the arc, also outrebounding Sterling 44-26. All but one of the Eagles that saw action recorded a field goal while the team collected 20 assists and 17 steals.

In addition to Mapes and Gonzalez, Brian Johnson made his Embry-Riddle debut.

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ERAU Women’s Basketball Defeats Clearwater Christian in Inaugural Game vs Embry-Riddle: 79

Clearwater Christian: 55

Alison Smalling ERAU Athletics The Embry-Riddle women’s basketball team opened up its inaugural season in style, picking up a 79-55 victory over visiting Clearwater Christian on Friday night. Taylor Cyphers had 20 points to lead the Eagles in scoring, as ERAU moved to 1-0 on the season and CCC fell to 0-3.

Kalah Martin added 18 points, nine rebounds and six steals for the Blue and Gold, while Ashley McWilliams chipped in 13 points and five assists.

Hallie Linville led the Cougars with a game-high 30 points to go along with eight boards and Liz Jenkins contributed 16 points.

Martin picked up the program’s first rebound 17 seconds into the contest and also scored the first points in program history, knocking down a three with 18:44 on the clock, setting off a rain of confetti on the 1,346 fans.

Mercedes Jorge assisted on Martin’s triple,

recording the first assist in school history.

Cyphers collected the program’s first steal 2:33 into the game; six seconds later she knocked down a trey to put the Eagles ahead, 6-4, which would prove to be the final lead change of the game as ERAU never looked back.

Martin connected on a pair of free throws just over four minutes into the game to make it a 10-4 lead, marking the first free throws for the new Eagle program.

The Eagle lead grew to double-digits for the first time when Cyphers drove for a layup with 12:32 left in the half, making it an 18-8 game. Just over four minutes later, Martin drilled a three to push the margin to 17 points (3114), the largest lead of the half. Embry-Riddle would head into the locker room with a 40-26 halftime lead.

The Blue and Gold came out strong in the second period, scoring 12 of the first 13 points to increase the lead to 52-27 less than three minutes into the half. The Cougars found

Victor Wong/The Avion Newspaper

their footing and were able to trim the deficit from 25 down to 16 (5438), but that was as close as they would get for the

rest of the contest.

Cyphers hit a jumper with 7:14 remaining to cap a 10-2 run that put the home team ahead, 72-45.

The Eagles maintained a comfortable advantage the rest of the way, claiming a 79-55 victory.

The Eagles will be

back in action on Monday when they travel to Temple Terrace to face Florida College. Tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m.

ERAU Volleyball Sweeps Ave Maria on Senior Day vs Embry-Riddle: 3 Allison Smalling ERAU Athletics The Embry-Riddle volleyball team celebrated its final Sun Conference match on its home court on Saturday by defeating the visit-

Ave Maria: 0 ing Ave Maria Gyrenes 3-0 (25-17, 25-14, 25-16). With the win, the Eagles (19-9) claimed a share of The Sun Conference Regular Season Championship with a 13-1 league record. ERAU and St. Thomas both finished

with identical 13-1 marks, but by virtue of winning the tiebreaker on headto-head points, STU will host The Sun Conference Tournament next weekend.

Cheye-Anne Savage led all players with 10 kills while senior Jennifer Beatty chipped in eight kills.

Tamires Ferreira had a solid all-around match, racking up 35 assists, five kills, five digs, four blocks and four service aces. Senior libero Hannah Gray tallied 19 digs to lead all players.

Marie Mendez, Katelyn Healy and Lexy Smith all recorded a team-high six kills for AMU. Jessica Schein had 13 assists and Mary Eckard picked up a team-leading nine digs.

The Eagles used an early 6-2 run to take an 8-5 lead in set one, prompting an Ave Maria timeout. The Gyrenes kept it close but ERAU scored the final five points of the frame, capped by back-to-back aces from Gray, to win the first set, 25-17.

Embry-Riddle wasted

no time building a big lead in set two, running out to a 13-5 advantage. The Gyrenes cut the deficit to four points (17-13) only to have the Eagles close out the set scoring eight of the last nine points to win the frame, 25-14.

Ave Maria held a slim 10-9 advantage in set three before the Blue and Gold rattled off nine consecutive points to build a comfortable 18-10 lead. The Eagles maintained a sizable margin as they claimed a 25-16 win, completing

the 3-0 sweep.

The Eagles will travel to Miami Gardens for The Sun Conference Tournament next weekend, where they will be the No. 2 seed.

ERAU will face the winner of the Warner-Northwood match at 4 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 14. St. Thomas will play the winner of the Southeastern-Webber International match at 7 p.m. on Nov. 14, with the two semifinal winners meeting in the championship match on Saturday, Nov. 15 at 2 p.m.

How Iraqis Built a New Air Force Presented by the President’s Speaker Series Special Guest Speaker

Date:

Wednesday, Nov. 19

Time:

7 p.m; doors open at 6 p.m.

Where: Auditorium, Willie Miller Instructional Center

Maj. Michael Banzet Author of “A Flowershop in Baghdad”

Maj. Michael Banzet and host Marc Bernier will discuss the hidden efforts of American, British and desperately courageous Iraqis to build a new Air Force out of war and destruction. A book signing will follow the discussion.

Upcoming Events in 2015: Jan. 20: Political analyst & Pulitzer prizewinning author Dr. Charles Krauthammer Feb. 11: Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm

ENTRY IS FREE View the President’s Speaker Series schedule at erau.edu

Advertise Your Local Business Campus Department Student Organization Ask About Discounted Rates!

Contact the Advertising Manager 386-226-7697 advertising@theavion.com

Private Pilot Certificates:

INBAE LIM JORGE EDUARDO MORALES MADRIGAL

Instrument Rating Certificate:

KEEGAN KENNETH SULLIVAN

Commercial Pilot Certificate: SOOYEON HWANG TORRELL ANTHONY BOOKER

Commercial Single Engine Add-on Rating: RILEY WILLIAM SHIPE MOHAMMED I BRAHIM A KENDASSA ALISTAIR SANDERSON MEEK

Flight Instructor Instrument Certificate: SAMANTHA ALYSE SZEFLER JOSHUA STEPHEN JUILLERAT

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“Interstellar” Suspends Disbelief WARNING: This review contains spoilers

Mike Barrett Correspondent Christopher and Jonathan Nolan came back to the big screen yet again, with a cinematic science fiction thriller that is quite literally, out of this world; in fact, it’s interstallar! If you go watch this film, prepare to be challenged by several modalities of classical and quantum physics – such as time travel, relativity, black holes, angular momentum in microgravity and, of course, five-dimensionality (which is hyperspace & time). If you read the novel “Ender’s Game” in lieu of an authoritative high school physics textbook, then you should have no problem blindly accepting the implications of this film on the orthodox laws of Physics. Remarkably, the Nolan brothers unashamedly plagiarize from the Sam Neill and

Laurence Fishburne film “Event Horizon” (1997), when the same theory behind a worm hole is egregiously repeated.

However, Interstellar takes the concept of a folded paper with a pencil punched through just a step further.

They claim that the “worm hole” is actually a “sphere” (thus, not a funnel-shaped hole), a wildly counter-intuitive idea that is gaining momentum with today’s theoretical cosmologists.

Nonetheless, this original story-line resurrects a cast that would make you wonder why Christian Bale or Leonardo DiCaprio didn’t play a cameo. Michael Caine (playing Prof. Brand) and Anne Hathaway (playing Dr. Anne Brand) returned as Nolan regulars in this apocalyptic space drama that was a cross between Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1969), “Event

Photo Courtesy: Paramount Pictures A worm hole “sphere” depicted in the film Interstellar

Horizon” (1997), and “Black Hole” (1979).

Even the robots are like human characters hiding behind metal skin. The Nolans certainly followed the tradition of “2001: A Space Odyssey’s” Hal 9000 and “Black Hole’s” V.I.N. CENT with the robots TARS and CASE, except the androids in Interstellar are all legs (literally), and they aren’t emotional basket cases (like Hal 9000) or vertically-challenged (like V.I.N.CENT). In fact, in one scene when a colossal wave is about to crash into their ship on an alien planet, the robot CASE actually comes to the rescue of Anne Brand, when she loses her mental grip, and CASE has to carry her back to the ship in his arms to save her life from a ferocious rogue wave. These AI also have a sense of humor and piloting skill that makes me surprisingly okay with the idea of automated pilots in the future.

If you don’t believe me, then you need to watch the scene where NASA astronaut-turned-farmer Cooper (played

by Matthew McConaughey) successfully docks his lander with the space-station expedition ship Endurance, while it is spinning dangerously out of control and into a planet’s atmosphere, with the generous help of

TARS. Of course, it was clear that Cooper didn’t have a chance in hell of docking that lander ship without serious help from TARS. The only thing Cessna’s need now is an autopilot that can crack jokes on long cross country flights and even poke fun of the pilot if the pilot started to sleep at the yoke. Now, that would make things very interesting.

Most likely, your questions about the storyline will never get answered and you (like many in the audience) will be left scratching your head pondering the serious holes in the narrative when the end credits pop up.

Ultimately, unless you appreciate the ideas of hyperspace and gauge the consequences of the quantum interpretation of gravity (which is still a misfit in physics), then you will be greatly unsatisfied with the film’s plot development.

Otherwise, if are a nerd for physics, you might find this to be a real treat and one worth watching.

Dr. Kip Thorn, the Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics at Caltech, apparently vetted the film’s artistic license and despite the implausibility of the story, endorsed the film’s physics as grounded in fact, obeying Newton and Einstein.

Interstellar

Photo Courtesy: Paramount Pictures Astronaut-farmer Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) is sent into interstellar space (through a worm-hole) as a last hope mission to save Earth

Give up on Ginza

Suzanne Fernandes News Editor

BOOK ON LINE AT WWW.DOTSDAYTONA.COM

If you are looking for different places to eat, then Daytona Beach does offer quite a variety of all kinds of cuisine.

There is Mediterranean, Indian, Thai, Chinese and an abundance of steak and sushi bars to choose from. Maybe I can help trickle the options down.

Ginza Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi Bar is located on 5000 S Clyde Morris Blvd, Port Orange, in the same plaza as Goodyear Total Tire and Service Center.

A majority of Google reviewers gave Ginza an almost excellent rat-

ing which prompted me to try this restaraunt.

On a positive note, I do have to mention the bar is one of the best I have seen in terms of décor.

Impeccable lighting illuminates the restaraunt up in beautiful colors.

Japanese Sushi restaurants have a competitive lunch menu, but Ginza falls short in providing variety to the lunch specials. The prices (both all-day menu and lunch specials) are almost on par with other restaurants of its genre, not so much the variety. On the lunch menu, there is not much to choose from if you are a Sushi fan, and I was disappointed with the serving sizes, too.

On the up side, if you do go to these restaurants for the hibachi, you won’t be let down, even during lunch. The hibachi menu boasts several meat options, the most famous being steak, and it’s always fun to see the hibachi chef cook your meal and demonstrate tricks like the “onion volcano” right in front of you. Of course, the meal is incomplete without a glass of hot Sake. The two flavors they serve, apple and raspberry, both deserve a win. Perhaps you could end your meal with a delicious serving of their fried banana ice-cream.

They do offer drink specials on select days

and they may even have coupons in local maagazines. The service was good and the staff was friendly.

Weighing all good and bad, I would suggest to skip this restaurant for their lunch specials and maybe visit them some other time of the day. They offer a similar menu to all other sushi and steakhouses.

Comparatively, there is nothing over the top here. I think I will just head down the road and have a better experience at Sushi 99. If you do decide to give this place a try, you can check their website for specials at http://ginzasushiportorange.com/.

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John Wick Gets Re-Re-Loaded

Photo Courtesy: Lions Gate Entertainment

Mike Barrett Correspondent Retired master assassin John Wick (Keanu Reeves) is beside himself in self-brooding grief after his wife (played by Bridget Moynahan) dies from a long bout with a terminal illness. His world looks a little brighter after a sappy young beagle (named Daisy) arrives at his doorstep one night with a last letter from his wife.

She tells him that “he doesn’t have to live in grief for her loss alone and the young puppy is to be his new best friend.”

After an awkward encounter with some Russian-speaking hoodlums at a gas station, Wick opens the throttle on his 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 muscle car at a local airport. Wick ignores the encounter with the punks and carries on with his now solitary home life. Later that same night, the same thuggish swine break into his house, and savagely assault him and sadistically murder his puppy dog. In an allegorical rebirth, John Wick wakes up after his concussion and upon seeing the cold, lifeless body of his furry friend on the wood floor of his now ransacked home, John’s “Wick

gets lit.”

This one unforgivable episode sets off a cascading chain of events, a “Chain Reaction” if you will, in which John Wick gets out of retirement.

Next, Wick cinematically wields a sledge hammer to break through two feet of solid basement concrete, opens the dusty ammo locker, loads the hand cannons, busts out a small fortune of Krugerrand gold bullion (used to pay debts in the criminal underworld) and calls up an unknown service provider to request dinner service for a party of 12. The black vans that arrive at Wick’s home aren’t packed with caterers, tablecloths and food but instead, ex-cons, plastic wrap and cleaning supplies.

The film is a narrative excursion delineating Wick’s unfathomable descent into the criminal underworld of New York City.

It is a cinematic mastery of stylish design schemes and cunning manipulation of mood. Like the descent of a Greek hero into the auspices of Hades for a noble cause, Wick is a demi-god-like figure with a noble cause, plen-

ty of time and no worthy adversary to repel him.

He is invincible and ultimately just in his actions.

The Continental Hotel in which Wick checks into is eerily reminiscent of the quasi-realist elements of the Matrix Trilogy, in which real-life is not as ascetically organized or as color coordinated when compared to film. The true genius in this film is not just a rehashing of Matrix Trilogy gun karate (which was freaking awesome, by the way) and surely not just watching ordinary Keanu Reeves transform into volatile Keanu Reeves (from dull to dangerous is a Keanu Reeves M.O.), but in his absolutely majestic performance of dance when he systematically terminated his enemies.

To Wick, his “dance of death” was his art. His carnage extravaganza was akin to Ludwig van Beethoven conducting his choral Ninth Symphony at the Vienna Karntnertor or Johann Sebastian Bach performing in his B minor Mass at the Dresden Frauenkirche.

Seeing Wick kill with fluid motions and elegant motions reminded me of the conductor’s baton and his dance most resembled the silence foot falls and

coordinated perfection of ballet dancers. Instead of performing his magnum opus in a neo-classical orchestral theater or a baroque Lutheran church, he performed his feats at his home, the Continental Hotel, a night club called the Red Circle, a dilapidated warehouse complex and even in a Russian Orthodox Church.

Another element which added to the film’s virtuosity was the choice in supporting actors for Reeves.

You can forget the other people in the cast except the two main players that verily drive the actions of Wick: Viggo Tarasov (Michael Nyqvist) and Marcus (Willem Dafoe).

Viggo is the kingpin of a Russian criminal gang and the principal antagonist to Wick. Viggo is the ultimate basis for Wick’s constant offensive of Russian goons and haphazard hit squads.

Of course, Viggo orders a contract hit on John Wick valued at $2 million. This large bounty is certainly hard for any hit man to pass up in a post-2008 economic recession and a NYC monthly rent to settle.

Marcus is Wick’s longtime mentor, confidant and only true friend. Marcus is also a veteran hit man and he is put in the awk-

ward circumstance of having to verbally accept Viggo’s contract hit on Wick The kill tally by the film’s end is at least over 50, but honestly, I lost count after the Red Circle club scene.

Wick offers his movie-going audience a chance to consider a world where you get to take out the people that wrong you and make it look cool, fun and efficient. The irony is that the same Russian gang that he carried out hits on during his long career (before his retirement)

was the very same organization that he summarily exterminated.

A notable quote from Viggo regarding John Wick’s ferocity and skill for assassination was aptly this: “I once saw him kill three men in a bar with a pencil….. A pencil!”

If you like Reeves and want to burn about 2 hours and not feel like you wasted your time, go see this film.

It is fresh, cool, entertaining and very fulfilling. You get a lot of bang for your buck in this film.

John Wick

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